Computational Complexity and other fun stuff in math and computer science from Lance Fortnow and Bill Gasarch

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Bouncing a Little French Girl

Those who know me well know my addiction to junk food, often referred
to as "Lance Food" during my graduate school days. America
has its great variety of such culinary delights like Cheesesteaks and
Buffalo Chicken Wings but Europeans do very well on their own going
well beyond the omnipresent American chains.
In Amsterdam I always go for the Uitsmijter (literally
"Bouncer", like at a club), basically an open-faced
sandwich with fried eggs on top. I usually go for the Rostbief
Uitsmijter and the Ham-Kaas version (Ham and Cheese and the Eggs) can
really clog those arteries.
But the Uitsmijter is downright healthy compared to the Porto delicacy
Francesinha
("Little French Girl"). One starts with a thick
slice of bread then add layers of ham, steak and sausage. Cover with
another slice of bread and pour melted cheese on top. Then add the
fried egg and smother the whole thing in gravy. Right now Porto is
having their Festa da Francesinha by the river where restaurants from
all over the city come to offer their versions of the Francesinha.
Luis Antunes says "A little bad food is good for stomach every
now and then." After eating a Francesinha at lunch today I'm not
sure my stomach agrees.

There are not many vegetarian fast food dishes but some exist: Falafel (Middle Eastern but I saw it in Paris), and if you allow dairy then Pizza (exists in fast food form in many places), cheese sandwiches (saw many in Italy) and Crepes (mainly France, you can choose between salty and sweet). As for various types of sweet vegetarian junkfood, you can find them almost everywhere. If you insist on vegan, your friendly neighborhood grocery store surely has carrots :-)